Technological advances in semiconductor device fabrication involve dramatic reduction in device feature size or critical dimension, so that openings formed between multiple insulated conductor layers, as one example, tend to be deeper and have greater aspect ratios. The present invention overcomes the difficulties in forming such structures by controlling the plasma ion density in the bulk plasma, the plasma ion energy distribution in the plasma sheath and the ion dissociation in the bulk plasma can independently and simultaneously. The present invention therefore fulfills the need to implement plasma processes in which the selections of ion density, ion energy distribution and ion dissociation are made without limiting one another.